Moist German American Cookies with Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs (at room temperature)
• Butter (softened)
• Flour
• Sugar (white sugar)
• Vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (depending on what is available)
• Cornstarch
• Baking powder
• Salt (a little salt)
• Milk (lukewarm)
• Powdered sugar (for the glaze; use about 2 tsp of glaze per cookie)
• Lemon juice (for the glaze; freshly squeezed)

Steps

1. 1

   Stir the flour, baking powder, and cornstarch together in a bowl. Set the dry mixture aside for now.

2. 2

   Place the softened butter, white sugar, and vanilla sugar or vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with the dough hook for about 2 minutes until creamy. Alternatively, use a hand mixer.

3. 3

   Reduce the speed slightly and gradually add the two room-temperature eggs. Mix only until the eggs are reasonably incorporated into the butter-sugar mixture.

4. 4

   Gradually mix in the dry ingredients in 5 to 6 additions rather than all at once. At the same time, alternately add a few splashes of lukewarm milk.

5. 5

   Transfer the finished batter to a piping bag and cut off a generous opening at the tip.

6. 6

   Pipe the batter onto a baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between portions. For the size shown in the video, pipe portions about 7 cm wide. Place only about five cookies per baking sheet so they do not run into one another during baking.

7. 7

   Preheat the oven to 175 °C using conventional top and bottom heat. Bake the cookies for about 13 minutes.

8. 8

   While the cookies are baking, squeeze the lemon juice and mix it with the powdered sugar. The glaze should be neither too runny nor too thick.

9. 9

   Allow the baked cookies to cool completely.

10. 10

    Spread about 2 tsp of lemon glaze over the flat underside of each cookie.

11. 11

    To dry, place the glazed cookies on a glass. This prevents the glaze from running completely down one side. Once the glaze has dried, remove the cookies from the glass.

Notes

The quantities for most ingredients are not specified in the available transcription. The cookies are about 7 cm wide before baking and grow to about 10 cm during baking. When stored in an airtight container, they keep for up to 3 days. The cookies shown in the video are particularly large; for mini cookies, pipe smaller portions of batter.

Nutrition per serving

• Dessert
• Pastries
• German cuisine
• Baked
• Carnival
• Lemon glaze
• Vegetarian